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Webster 1913 Edition

Stifle

Sti′fle

,
Noun.
[From
Stiff
.]
(Far.)
The joint next above the hock, and near the flank, in the hind leg of the horse and allied animals; the joint corresponding to the knee in man; – called also
stifle joint
. See Illust. under
Horse
.
Stifle bone
,
a small bone at the stifle joint; the patella, or kneepan.

Sti′fle

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Stifled
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Stifling
.]
[Freq. of OE.
stif
stiff; cf. Icel.
stīfla
to dam up.]
1.
To stop the breath of by crowding something into the windpipe, or introducing an irrespirable substance into the lungs; to choke; to suffocate; to cause the death of by such means;
as, to
stifle
one with smoke or dust
.
Stifled
with kisses, a sweet death he dies.
Dryden.
I took my leave, being half
stifled
with the closeness of the room.
Swift.
2.
To stop; to extinguish; to deaden; to quench;
as, to
stifle
the breath; to
stifle
a fire or flame
.
Bodies . . .
stifle
in themselves the rays which they do not reflect or transmit.
Sir I. Newton.
3.
To suppress the manifestation or report of; to smother; to conceal from public knowledge;
as, to
stifle
a story; to
stifle
passion
.
I desire only to have things fairly represented as they really are; no evidence smothered or
stifled
.
Waterland.

Sti′fle

,
Verb.
I.
To die by reason of obstruction of the breath, or because some noxious substance prevents respiration.
You shall
stifle
in your own report.
Shakespeare

Webster 1828 Edition

Stifle

STIFLE

,
Verb.
T.
[L., stiff and stop. Gr.]
1.
To suffocate; to stop the breath or action of the lungs by crowding something into the windpipe, or by infusing a substance into the lungs, or by other means; to choke; as, to stifle one with smoke or dust.
2.
To stop; as, to stifle the breath; to stifle respiration.
3.
To oppress; to stop the breath temporarily; as, to stifle one with kisses; to be stifled in a close room or with bad air.
4.
To extinguish; to deaden; to quench; as, to stifle flame; to stifle a fire by smoke or by ashes.
5.
To suppress; to hinder from transpiring or spreading; as, to stifle a report.
6.
To extinguish; to check or restrain and destroy; to suppress; as, to stifle a civil war in its birth.
7.
To suppress or repress; to conceal; to withhold from escaping or manifestation; as, to stifle passion; to stifle grief; to stifle resentment.
8.
To suppress; to destroy; as, to stifle convictions.

STIFLE

,
Noun.
1.
The joint of a horse next to the buttock, and corresponding to the knee in man; called also the stifle joint.
2.
A disease in the knee-pan of a horse or other animal.

Definition 2024

stifle

stifle

See also: štifle

English

Alternative forms

  • stifil

Noun

stifle ‎(plural stifles)

  1. A hind knee of various mammals, especially horses.
  2. (veterinary medicine) A bone disease of this region.

Translations

Verb

stifle ‎(third-person singular simple present stifles, present participle stifling, simple past and past participle stifled)

  1. (transitive) To interrupt or cut off.
  2. (transitive) To repress, keep in or hold back.
    • Waterland
      I desire only to have things fairly represented as they really are; no evidence smothered or stifled.
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 15, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
      Edward Churchill still attended to his work in a hopeless mechanical manner like a sleep-walker who walks safely on a well-known round. But his Roman collar galled him, his cossack stifled him, his biretta was as uncomfortable as a merry-andrew's cap and bells.
    • 2011 October 29, Neil Johnston, “Norwich 3-3 Blackburn”, in BBC Sport:
      In fact, there was no suggestion of that, although Wolves deployed men behind the ball to stifle the league leaders in a first-half that proved very frustrating for City.
    The army stifled the rebellion.‎
  3. (transitive) To smother or suffocate.
    • John Dryden
      Stifled with kisses, a sweet death he dies.
    • Jonathan Swift
      I took my leave, being half stifled with the closeness of the room.
    The heat was stifling the children.‎
  4. (intransitive) To feel smothered etc.
    The heat felt stifling.‎
  5. (intransitive) To die of suffocation.
    Two firemen tragically stifled in yesterday's fire when trying to rescue an old lady from her bedroom.‎
  6. (transitive) To treat a silkworm cocoon with steam as part of the process of silk production.

Synonyms

Translations

Anagrams

Etymology

From Middle English stiflen, from Old Norse stífla ‎(“to dam, choke, stop up”), from stífla ‎(“dam”), from Proto-Germanic *stīfilaz, *stīfilą ‎(“prop, pole, support”), from Proto-Indo-European *steip-, *steib- ‎(“stake, picket”). Cognate with Icelandic stífla ‎(“to dam up, jam, block”), Norwegian stivla ‎(“to dam up, choke, stop”), Low German stipel ‎(“support wood”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈstaɪfl/
  • Rhymes: -aɪfəl

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